The Theocratic Cat is out of the Constitutional Bag

This week I was listening to the Chistian radio station WAFG 90.3 FM here in South Florida and I heard something on a broadcast called "Vocal Point" that I feel needs wider dissesmination.

On Friday December 19th on the "Vocal Point" program "Doctor" Gary Cass of an organization called "The Christian Anti-Defamation Commission" uttered the following statement that needs to be heard throughout this great country :-

"The Church is the Secret Government of the World"

Let me repeat that because it sounds pretty freaking significant.....

"The Church is the Secret Government of the World"

Seems to me that this statement is directly in conflict with the Constitution, which let me remind you, is the highest law in these United States.

The presenter of the program was audibly gobsmacked by this zinger and he and "Doctor" Cass had to back peddle like crazy to try to put this Pro-Theocracy Cat back in the Constitutional Bag.

And guess what?

They failed.

Have we finally heard out in the open, the Christian Right's true goal for this country?

"The Church is the Secret Government of the World"

If "Doctor" Cass is in any way working towards this "Secret Government" goal, then he is conspiring to pervert the US Constitution and he should suffer the consequences of that.

Response to a Focus On The Family Drone

Below is my response to a letter left on the Times Union of Albany NY website by someone called Monica Marti who stated she was a "Manager Media and Public Relations" at Focus On The Family.

Dear Ms Marti,

I am writing to you regarding your letter to the website timesunion.com of 12/14/08.

It doesn't matter for how many years "Dobson's radio broadcast has been
'helping' millions of families...." ( your quote ), the problem is when
Dobson goes off on one of his anti-gay marriage rants, his homophobic
attitudes are reinforced in the minds of his "followers". And as a
"psychologist", I am sure that that is his covert intention.

You can't cite "good works" as the sign of someone's veracity and trustworthiness.

You have to look at their deceitfulness and mendacity. And James
Dobson exhibits quite enough of those two qualities each year for us
to know that he is indeed a homophobe.

We go by his deeds not by his folksy schtick.

And he is such a liar too. Ask him who won the Battle Of Franklin.
Ask him to explain the Anthrophic Principle again. Ask him to explain
why Elizabeth Dole is such a godly woman when she ran one of the most
hateful campaigns of the last election.

James Dobson is a dangerous ignorant buffoon.

After Further Review....

So I went back to the Focus On The Family December 1st and 2nd programs about The Civil War Battle Of Franklin and another example of the towering ignorance of James Dobson leaped up and bit me like the metaphor it most clearly is.

As I have previously blogged, in these programs Dobson keeps saying how interested he is in in the Civil War and how he considers himself a "Civil War buff". So in effect he is setting himself up as someone who probably knows more about it than say, Joe Six-Pack or this made up "Fred" guy, who they say supports Doctor and his legions of darkness.

So, he sets himself up for his own fall because, in a towering display of not knowing his musket from his balls, "Doctor" says to the historian at the Franklin site, "This was a victory for the Union forces" and that my friend ain't so.

The Historian had to correct the Expert by saying that in ANY Civil War battle, the victor is judged to be the side that held the field when the opponents withdrew.

And of course in the case of the Battle of Franklin, that side was THE CONFEDERACY.

Amazing. James Dobson knows nothing about stuff he personally studies for a hobby. Makes you think about what he really knows about his "academic field".

But that's not the kicker. What this complete reversal of understanding about who won and who lost and who eventually won and who eventually lost seems to be is, a perfect metaphor for the whole Gay Marriage Debate.

In the Battle of Franklin, the Confederacy won, but in reality they took such huge losses there that it was the beginning of their defeat. And so with Prop 8 in California and Amendment 2 here in Florida. The Focus on the Family types won the day in November 2008, but time and demographics are against them. When Dobson is gone and groups like Focus On The Family are again marginalized politically, then there will be new Amendments and gay marriage will be legal everywhere and then this whole non-issue will be OVER.

Battle of Franklin - 1864
Focus On the Family contributions for 2008 - down $5 million
James Dobson's ignorance - Priceless

Lies Focus On The Family Told Me

I've been trawling the Focus on the Family web site listening to past broadcasts and I came across as pair of doozies from September 15th and 16th 2008.

The two part program was called ( very disingenuously ), "A Father's Commitment To Purity" and was about a guy ( Randy Wilson ), who is the instigator of a nationwide phenomenon called "Purity Balls" and about his putting his daughters through public humiliation in a vain attempt to keep them "pure" for their husbands.

But really, these programs were about this man's purient interest in the sex lives of of his own daughters. Eeeew!

The programs should have be called "A Father's Unhealthy Interest in His Daughter's Purity".

I defy you to listen to these recordings and not feel the need to shower afterwards.

Anyways, right at the start of these very scary programs Randy Wilson authoritatively says that in the book of Proverbs it says "Our brides are a gift from God".

THAT IS A LIE. MY BIBLE SAYS NO SUCH THING. NOT ABOUT BRIDES, NOT ABOUT WIVES.

But that's how this works isn't it? Lie, but do it with conviction.

Why was I not surprised to learn that Mr Wilson used to work for Focus On The Family, the home of Biblical mendacity? And now he is the "National Field Director for Church Ministries for the Family Research Council" - so he's still lying for Jesus for a living then.

Best Week Ever On Focus On The Family

December 1st and 2nd's radio programs were both, for want of a better term, "holiday recordings" of "Doctor" Dobson's taken at the site of the Civil War Battle of Franklin in Tennessee. Apparently the good doctor has been in Tennessee still writing his opus "Bringing Up Girls", but he still had some time to go out and record personal jaunts like this one.

One of the things I love about Dobson, almost as much as the "tsk tsking" and the sighing to show us his sympathy ON MATTERS THAT ARE FREAKING OBVIOUS is when he ventures into areas about which he knows diddly squat and then falls flat on his overly pious behind.

In the case of this week's programs from Tennessee, he produced two classic howlers, even after he had informed us that he was a "Civil War buff".

1. He didn't know when the Battle of Shiloh was - he thought it was AFTER the Battle of Franklin.

2. He kept referring to the Battle of Franklin as the "Gettysburg Of The West" when really it was known as the "Pickett's Charge of the West".

But of course Dobson lies with such authority that I'm sure many people must miss that what he says is just plain wrong.

For the record, The Battle of Shiloh was fought on April 6th and 7th 1862. The Battle of Franklin was November 30th 1864.

The "Gettysburg of the West" was The Battle of Glorieta Pass - as any Google user can find out.

What was also interesting was Dobson's admission that because he is distantly related to General Lee ( he was called "Lee" as a child ), if he had been alive at the time of the Civil War, he would probably would have been fighting for the Confederacy. I'm thinking that's a piece of biography you might want to keep to yourself there Doc.

Anyways, if Monday and Tuesday weren't full of enough nutty goodness, we then came to Wednesday and a program devoted to hand wringing and lamenting the job cuts at the Focus On The Family campus/gulag in Colorado Springs. Doctor was in fine form, taking no responsibility for anything and not realizing that perhaps the $5 million shortfall at the "ministry" might be because Jesus is not pleased with how Focus has been using "the Lord's resources". $590k to defeat Prop 8? Not wise spending there in tough economic times.

The program was GREAT, with Dobson saying he "loved" the people he was kicking in the teeth and that some had been with him for 20 years and oh yes, some of them "will have difficulty finding another job". And a Merry Christmas to you to Doctor. 20% gone, 80% left.....

I wonder how much money that he could have gotten for FoF went to Focus On The Family Action for all its machinations during the past political season? It would be kind of ironic if FoF as a "ministry" becomes economically unglued because of the monies that were syphoned to FoF Action.

And on Thursday? Somewhat unprecedentedly they repeated Wednesday's program because "due some technical difficulties", not all the FoF listeners had gotten to hear Doctor in full on sackcloth and ashes mode. The program was just as funny the second time around. The man is almost a definition of insincerity. It oozes off him - like slime of a slug.

And the week was rounded off with an old program about that "great patriot" and trampler of the Constitution, Colonel Oliver "All I can get is a gig on Fox News" North.

I swear the people at Focus on the Family must have a mandatory irony bypass before they can work there. It's the only explanation.

BarlowGirls

Today ( December 6th 2008 ) I was listening to Focus On The Family's "Weekend Magazine" show with "Doctor" Bill Maier and he had bit with a Christian group called "BarlowGirl" singing "Its the Most Wonderful Time Of The Year".

OMG. But these sisters - Alyssa, Becca and Lauren - CAN'T SING AT ALL.

At the end of the verses when a powerful rising cadence is needed, they produced this horrendous weak sound that was bad beyond belief. There is simply no horse power in these girls' voices at all.

All I could think of as I heard them butcher this classic song was how much better it would be if it was sung by someone who has talent in the singing department - someone like Jennifer Hudson for example.

How the heck did these talentless wannabes ever get a record contract?

Why Sarah Palin represents business as usual

Did you catch Governor Palin speaking at her son's Iraq deployment ceremony? She said "You'll be there to defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the deaths of thousands of Americans."

I guess that is technically true if you stop to think about it.

But most people don't stop and I think, just like when I first heard heard her, all that registers is the same tired 9/11 and Iraq conflation the GOP talking heads have pushed since the invasion.

Subtle Mrs Palin is. Some might say she has already partaken of Bush's Koolaid. By this speech, she clearly showed she is definitely "more of the same".

Go Obama!

Death Race - Yahoo! loses another review !!

This movie is not a candidate for Worst Movie of the Year, it IS hands down the Worst Movie of 2008.

It starts as a homophobic and misogynistic disaster. It quickly drops any references to the gay driver and decides to stick with its basic misogyny message.

Oh boy is it bad.

Joan Allen's red lipstick is welded so tight on her pursed lips to keep the scream of "I'M GOING TO KILL MY AGENT!" from bursting out.

The direction is frantic in that MTV generation, ferret-on-speed kind of way where quite simply, you cannot tell what the heck is going on. There is not enough blood. There is no satire.

"Launch the Dreadnought!"

Right. So we can sink this mess back into the bad movie abyss from whence it came.

However, every misogynistic cloud has a sexist silver lining and here it is how they film Natalie Martinez. And how is that?

Droolingly. Knuckle-draggingly droolingly.

Yahoo! lose another one.....Mummy III

It hard to know where to begin, this film is so mediocre. Let's start with the usually luminous Ms.Bello. What's with American actresses and English accents? Speaking as a new minted US citizen who was born in the UK, I found her accent worthy. BUT...it seemed to me by spending all her time keeping it firmly in place, she lost any nuance or inflection in her voice. Or do Americans truly feel that the British are so refined and stiff-upper-lipped that they always talk like that? Ms.Bello spoke exactly the same during mummy attacks as she did serving tea in her big country house. And it was irritating.

And what happened to the son? In the second movie he was a plucky British schoolboy and in this he is a cookie cutter bloodless American pile of blah.

And who allowed THAT yeti footage to stand? Talk about cheesey AND wrong at the same time.

The plot was boring. The mummies in no way creating any of the dread of the first film.

The best thing in the movie was seeing Michelle Yeogh and Anthony Wong in a picture together. OK, but not in scenes TOGETHER...But what are you gonna do? And was the quite lovely Isabella Leong in there simply because Zhang Zi-Yi has standards?

The X-files movie

Damn Yahoo! They keep losing my movie reviews. They lost this one too.

Dana Scully paved the way to make smartness chic on TV. Without Scully there would be no CSI-babes. This movie is really all about Scully and her inner conflicts. Conflicts between her belief in Science, her Catholicism, her wish to not believe in the irrational and more importantly her desire to "not look into the darkness anymore".

The whole rest of the plot is just something going on in the background. And so what if it is not about aliens, abductions and other Roswelly stuff? The TV series was just like the two movies have been - either you had a continuing episode about Little Green Men OR you had an episode that stood by itself with no reference to bigger conspiracies. This movie is just a standalone. And that doesn't matter one whit to Scully's story.

It doesn't even matter that the story is such a slight one. There is more than enough going on to get Scully fired up. Heck, it could just have been about the kid in the hospital and it would still have carried the same emotional wallop.

Mulder is pretty superfluous to this picture - bringing as he does his usual straight out desire to believe in EVERYTHING. So he is never conflicted. And because he is never conflicted, he is never an interesting person to watch.

Amanda Peet? What a waste.

The Big Yin? Probably there will be no worse miscasting in a movie this year.

Scully holds this movie together. There has not been an actress in many a year like Gillian Anderson who can show so much humanity on the screen with just a simple close up.

Dang! She's so good in this.

The Dark Knight

"The Dark Knight" is definitely on the dark side of Harvey Dent's lucky coin to Will Smith's "Hancock".

While both movies are ostensibly about the same thing, namely what it means to be a superhero and how do such people fit into the societies in which they operate, "The Dark Knight" is the movie without the "Aw shucks Pa! It'll all work out." optimism of Smith's effort.

And is a way better movie for it.

In "Hancock" Will Smith can comes to terms with his place in life and he is embraced by the wider culture around him. The film is essentially a happy one. And once Hancock adjusts to fit in, all his inner conflicts are resolved and he can live with that. He can even be contented by the lonliness and separation from true love. He sucks it up and goes on.

In "The Dark Knight" Christian Bale is a tormented man. Tormented to be Gotham's hero and tormented by his need to be that hero. He doesn't in any sense "live with that" - he cannot - he struggles with that conflict throughout the film. And he is ultimately a character flawed forever by these warring forces within him. He is a man who can never have what Bruce Wayne has.

This movie is out-and-out fantastic. Some of the actors, not Ms.Gyllenhaal, ( whose performance is phoned in ), give almost career defining performances. Heath Ledger WILL win a posthumous Oscar. I have never seen Gary Oldman more subtle, nor more sympathetic.

The big question has to be, "why didn't Katie Holmes do this movie?" Surely she knows what it means to be held captive by a loon?

See this movie. See it on an IMAX screen if you can. This and WALL-E are the best movies of the summer.

My take on that whole Radio Hall Of Fame thing

The following is a quote from Wikipedia about the "radio priest" of the 1930s, Father Coughlin - also know as the Father of Hate Radio....

At its peak in the early 1930s, Coughlin's radio show was phenomenally popular. His office received up to 80,000 letters per week from listeners, and his listening audience was estimated to rise at times to as much as one-third of the nation. Coughlin is often credited as one of the major demagogues of the 20th century for being able to influence politics through broadcasting, without actually holding a political office himself.

Does that sound like anyone we know?

Now what happens if we substitute some names and dates......?


At its peak in the early 1990s, Dobson's radio show was phenomenally popular. His office received up to 80,000 letters per week from listeners, and his listening audience was estimated to rise at times to as much as 0.05% of the nation. Dobson is often credited as one of the major demagogues of the 20th century for being able to influence politics through broadcasting, without actually holding a political office himself. "And also to influence events through a so called "ministry", while all the time not being a pastor either". ( my last sentence added )

James Dobson is the natural successor to Father Coughlin, though thank goodness, he reaches into far less housholds than Coughlin did. Lets just call him and FoF, the Bastard Sons Of Hate Radio. He does love to tell us how many letters he gets a week doesn't he? I guess he feels a tad insecure if he doesn't blow his own trumpet and then tell us how expensive it is to run his propaganda operation - so he can then try to sucker us for "contributions".

So Dobson and the Focus on the Family broadcast is to be inducted into the National Radio Hall Of Fame? Well, looking at our history, Father Coughlin shows us that being popular and doing right are not synonymous.

What a mistake this whole fiasco has become. I voted for Howard Stern and I don't even like him - just to try stop this very sad day from happening.

Next inductee? Tokyo Rose? Josef Goebbels?

Tell me I'm wrong

It seems to me that the President should not have the power to assert executive privilege to block investigations into possible criminal matters. If he does, then the whole concept of co-equal branches of the government is out the window.

The President is top tog. He can do what he wants. He is in effect, a dictator.

And you know the Right is always so quick to back curbs on civil liberties with that mantra, "If you have nothing to hide, why are you objecting? I have nothing to hide, so pass the Patriot Act and FISA why don't ya?"

But methinks they do protest a tad too much when laws tread close too 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Sauce of the goose anyone?

Now, what was that saying about "Sunlight being the best disinfectant"?

And on Day 2...just more of the same lunatic statements

And on day two of the Dobbie and Tom show, Tom Delay issued yet another fatuous statement.

He said "When I left Congress, the Lord had two things for me to do. (1) Support the state of Israel and (2) to stand for Him. And I took that to mean PUSH THE CONSERVATIVE CAUSE."

Really Tom? Really. That's odd because I'm sure the baby Jesus told me that he wants you to be a Liberal. How could you have been so wrong? You misheard the voices in your own head? How bizarre.

Being a Conservative means "standing for God"? Boy what an idiot this man is. We have to be so grateful he is not in a position of power anymore. Tom Delay is as scary as Rick "with a silent P" Santorum.

July 9th 2008 a new nadir for Doctor Dobson

Today Doctor Dobson had the first part of an interview with "Hot Tub" Tom Delay and his wife Christine. At the end of the interview Dobson realized he had just completely trashed FoF's 501(c)(3) status when he said the following :-

"Will you stay with us another day and let's talk about non-political things? erm.. we haven't been talking about politics anyway, we've been talking about values and historic events".

Really? Not been talking about politics? So why would he say that tomorrow would be "non-political" if today was too? Surely he would say ( if they were the same ), "Please come back tomorrow so we can continue our interesting discussion?" His statement ONLY makes sense in the context of him, (Dobbo), understanding that today's stuff was "talking politics". And if he realizes that, he knows his 501(c)(3) status just went out the window.

And what did the Hammer have to say? Well he made some predictions of what will happen "if people like us stay home" [for the upcoming election].

In answer to Dobson asking him "what is this country going to be like in 5 or 10 years?" ( if we continue on the track we are on ).

1. There will be cloning of human beings.
2. There will be euthanasia - with the age "ratcheting down" from 99 today to 90 tomorrow to 80...
3. There will be destruction of churches - "to limit speech".
4. There will be a new religious system - "Humanism, if you will".
5. There will be a "rampant judiciary" who will be "creating all kinds of problems to undermine 'our' culture".
6. You will be paying 80-90% in taxes. "Because you are going to have a socialist society".

So let's set ourselves a promise to look at these predictions again on July 9th 2013.

We'll ignore item (5) because let's face it, Dobson, Minnery and Delay et al think that is happening now. Tom did not say how we might measure if this judicial rampancy has increased in 2013. The best issue we will be able to call him out on will be item (6). How foolish of him to give us a number we can actually measure.

And some other doozy miscelleaneous points from the broadcast....

Guess what? It doesn't matter if Tom does not agree with the admonishments of Congress because of his murky ethics. They admonished him. That is on the record. The only reason that they didn't find him guilty of ethics violations was because his party was in the majority at that time - so it was never going to happen. Therefore his trumpeting of "I was never found guilty of anything" has kind of a hollow ring to it. But Congress did recognize his activities were nefarious enough to warrant admonishment. However much he squirms, he can't remove that. And isn't the Ethics Committee bipartisan?

During the interview when talking about getting his mugshot he said the following ( and I'm not making this up ), "I prayed right before that mugshot [that the Lord..], that people would see Jesus in my eyes. If you look at my mugshot you can see great joy and happiness in my eyes. And I truly believe that."

Yes, he is clearly insane. Barking. Just look at the picture. Tell me I'm wrong.

And what the heck was this little exchange.....??

Dobson: "I would really like to talk about children which, Christine, you have given your life to, haven't you?"
Christine Delay: "Just about".
Dobson: "Err, well..and it is not over yet".
Christine Delay: "No".

Was James Dobson praising Christine Delay there for not being dead?

---||---

Best Quote Ever

Best quote ever from full time "Focus On the Family" Weasel Tom Minnery came in the FoF radio program where Doctor Dobson uttered his stupid "Barack Obama is distorting the Bible" nonsense.

Tom Minnery attempted to explain the relationship between "Focus On The Family" and "Focus On The Family Action" and he said the following.....

"Focus On The Family money works in tandem with Focus On The Family Action money to allow us to move in and out of issues as we need to. It is very complicated but we have very good lawyers advising us at every step of the way"

And that dear reader is called "muddying the waters between your 501(c)(3) and your 501(c)(4) organizations" - really bending if not the law itself, then its intent.

"Render unto Caesar" Tommy Boy? Oh, only when you can get a tax exemption, I get it.

And speaking of Dobson's fatuous comments as we always have to do, Jon Stewert nailed the old hypocrite on "The Daily Show" with what can only be described as a perfect satirical hit.

The Exasperated Sigh

There may be nothing in the world to me more satisfying than hearing Doctor James Dobson sigh. I'm not talking satisfying sighs or deep contentment sighs or heaven forbid, sighs of satiety. I'm talking of that exasperated sigh that is a weird combination of "Tsk" and "Oh". You know it when you hear it.

It made a lovely appearence on the "Focus On The Family" program on Colorado anti-discrimination laws on 5/28/08.

The single syllable that he issues is so, ( he thinks ), damning. It is wonderful containing in its little exhalation 'Oh. What are they thinking? This isn't right. I don't believe it' and 'I don't like this and I am always right'. And 'If you agree with what I am objecting to, there is something clearly wrong with you'. And 'this did not happen in the 50's. Waaah. Waaah. Waaah'

And the program also seemed to explain a lot about Doctor Dobson. It seems he was traumatized as a child by an experience in a girls bathroom.

Hint: He hears girls saying "You're going to be in trouble" in the back of his mind to this day.

Sure explains a lot.

Luckily he gets back at womankind through the patriarchy of "Focus On The Family" and in particular in those programs when he probes women about their husbands' porn problems. The sigh comes out in those shows too.

Dobson bent out of shape again

Well it had to happen. The May 19th 2008 Focus on the Family radio show had to be devoted to the California Supreme Court decision to legalize gay marriage. And oh boy, Doctor Dobson was having a hissy fit.

The image he gave me of him "pulling the [bed] covers over his ears" to hide from the day's problems is really funny. He said, "That is how I deal with things that distress me."

What is he, eight years old?

So the "show" from "Focus On The Family Action" ( natch ) consisted of the usual miscreants, Dobson, Minnery, Fabry and Tony Perkins from the "Family Research Council" plus a pastor, "Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel in Chino Hills California".

It was the usual rubbish and ranting against "judicial tyranny" aka "opinions we don't like". Minnery said he had read the whole opinion - including the dissenting part - and he said "this ruling means people in incestuus relationships can petition to be married".

Well, I guess they could try, but as INCEST IS ILLEGAL, I'm guessing that they wouldn't get what they want. What a maroon Minnery is. As you see, I think little Tommy has isues.

But the old trout was on his best form. Both of the following nonsensical quotes are from Doc's own lips.

"Families are ABSOLUTELY ESSESNTIAL to freedom" What the flying crap does that mean?

"The Family...the ground floor, the foundation everything rests on."

Really? Everything? Idiot.

The Whole Pastoral Mess

I want to write this down somewhere because I think there should be a record someplace that someone felt this way.

Has anyone watched the Reverend Wright footage closely? I mean, real closely, not the "GDA" soundbite so lovingly played ad infinitum by the likes of Sean Hannity.

Prior to the infamous phrase, the Reverend is speaking about bad stuff the United States has done to its own citizens and I think he mentions the treatment of Japanese-Americans in WW2 and the Tuskegee experiments and he says that God does not bless a country that does such things and he says something like "It is in the Bible" and then he says the hated phrase.

How would it have been received if he just had an extra "s" after the word "Damn"?

As in...

God doesn't bless countries that do bad things. Look at what happened to Japanese-Americans in WW2 or to the people in the Tuskegee experiments. I say God does not bless America. It is in the Bible. I say God Damns America, God Damns America. And he does so to all unjust nations.

Would there still be a controversy? All that the Reverend was doing was exposing the nauseating platitude ( so beloved of politicians and their drones ) of "God Bless America" used at the end of every speech by every candidate in every election.

I don't believe in God, but if I did, I would definitely think he would not be in the nation-blessing business. ( except maybe Israel ).

OK I know this sounds like I'm parsing phrases even closer than "It all depends on what your meaning of the word 'is' is", but in the larger context of what the Reverend Wright was saying, I think that extra "s" really makes sense.

First Summer Movie Casualty

Looks like the first Big Summer Movie to crash and burn is going to be "Speed Racer" and for that we can be thankful. My local movie theater was promoting the heck out of this movie all last month on their "Pre-Trailers" show - yes I am taking to you Regal Cinemas - and this movie looked like a steaming pile of doo from the get go.

I really do hate Summer Movies. To date it looks like of the heavily hyped movies, I will see "Prince Caspian" and "Wanted" and the Indiana Jones flick. All the rest can become a huge mass of rotting celluloid in my book.

"Iron Man" taking all that money was a huge disappointment, because all that is doing is encouraging studios to continue in their total bankruptcy of ideas and letting them MAKE MORE COMIC BOOK MOVIES.

Aaaaaarrgghhhhh!!!!!! They are all the same......

A misfit is transformed into a hero.
The female lead screams a lot.
The misfit hero triumphs over whoever the bad guy is.
The misfit hero's identity is somehow revealed, but strangely it isn't.
Some aspect of the movie ( escape of principal villain or promotion of villain's sidekick and/or relative ) points the way to next year's sequel.

Holy crap! This stuff writes itself.


This weekend I will probably go see "Fugitive Pieces" with the lovely Rosamund Pike.

I met Nina again.

She was still as lovely and sweet as ever.

It has been a long time

Well it has been such a long time since I blogged ANYTHING so I guess it was time to take up the keyboard once more.

All that is coming out today is stream-of-you-know-what stuff. What's on my mind, what I need to get off my chest. You know "life stuff".

So here we go....

Today ( April 26th 2008 ) some interesting articles appeared in the press about the hijacking of the National Day of Prayer by evangelical Christians. All I see is Shirley Dobson taking her lead from her husband's cult and embedding her "Christian Task Force" in the center of the mandated faith-neutral National Day Of Prayer just like "Doc" does with his political "Focus On The Family Action" within the (supposedly) non-political sect that is "Focus On The Family".

Still I hope Dobson takes some heat for his wife's activities. I like to hear him squirm on the radio. When they skewered him over the "Spongebob is gay" nonsense it was pretty damn priceless. And also when he was back peddling over the comments he made about embryonic stem cell research and Nazi doctors, that was good too. He certainly likes dishing it out, but oh boy, he can't take it.

What else?

Oh yes. "Life Matters" got taken off of "Radio Peace". Yay! A victory for me!

But sadly "Radio Peace" is still on the air here in South Florida, with perhaps, a man with the worst voice EVER for radio - an old trout called Philip Carlton. You have to hear him to believe it. His voice is weak and wavering - he sounds like he is about to croak at any minute. Come to think of it, sometimes he is making frog-like noises. Perhaps he is a herp lover? I guess the Archbishop ( who also is terrible on the radio ) must like old Phil or something, because there is no reason on God's Green Earth why he should be behind a microphone.

They also took off "Catholic Answers" ( yay! ) but replaced it with a daily Mass-and-Rosary session that is definitely not an improvement. ( so boo! to that ).

Oh yes. Websites.

I let all my domain names lapse. Shieldhost is possibly the worst company EVER to handle domain hosting. Cheap? Most certainly? Any good? Most certainly not. I finally had to admit defeat in dealing with them.

Oh yes. Age.

Last year I crashed through the big 5-0 barrier. It was I can tell you, traumatic. And then it was all topped of by my best friend having a heart attack and dropping dead at 59.

That stuff brings you up short let me tell you. I feel no different in myself but I am now aware of my own mortality.

And...movies for 2008

To date the year has been dire for movies. I have liked "Street Kings" and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and everything else has pretty much blown. I enjoyed "The Counterfeiters" up to its highly contrived and unbelievable ending.

All I am looking forward to this summer is "Wanted" and perhaps the Indiana Jones flick. But "Iron Man" AND "The Incredible Hulk"?????? I really don't think so.

The Election Thing

As I became a citizen, I now gets to vote. As of right now I am conflicted.

McCain? He is OK with the US staying 100 years in Iraq? That has to be something a rational person can't vote for. Really. The age thing? I don't care about that. The temper thing? I don't care about that either. His shakiness on the economy and his inability to understand the differences between Shia and Sunni? Those are concerns. And his failure to condemn the fat one from San Antonio? That hurts McCain for me too. Of course most people haven't seen Pastor Hagee's Comedy Hour to know what a jackass he is.

Hillary? Well purely and simply put, I don't want the Presidency to be in the hands of two American families any longer. That is almost monarchical. And I left the UK to avoid that. It shouldn't be taking root in the US. She voted for the war. She always votes for any free trade agreement that loses skilled American jobs. How the heck she can win primaries in Ohio and Pennsylvania is just beyond me. Her Congressional record alone should have lost it for her. Are the people really so gullible to think that a woman who takes a photo op chugging a beer and downing a shot is somehow "one of them"? As Karl Rove has said all along, the Republicans want her as the Democratic nominee. With her built-in high negatives ( "I will never vote for her under any circumstances" ), if she somehow becomes the Democratic nominee, she could be handing the election to McCain on unlikeability alone.

Obama? I wish he didn't have a Pastor. But he does and he went to that church for many years. There is no way to weasel out of that. The question becomes, does Obama's mere association with the Reverend Wright invalidate his candidacy? If you answer "yes" to that question, then Obama will never be your guy. But does that mean that noone can ever be elected to high office because somewhere in their past, in their childhood, they knew, or heaven forbid they befriended, someone from the other side of the tracks? Someone to whom say, fate was less kind than to them?

It seems to me that this "guilt-by-association" argument is one that really doesn't hold up to any kind of logical scrutiny. There has only ever been one "Mr.Perfect" and he was a professional wrestler.

But let's see about the man himself. He didn't vote for the war and he is some sort of "elitist". Two pluses in my book. And he is "inexperienced". Can you say "Texas has a weak gubernatorial system?" Unless you can be delusional enough to think that Obama would be comparable to Bush in the screwing-up department, I think the whole "experience" argument is a complete and utter crock. But I guess if you are looking for an excuse to not vote for him, that's as good as any.

So it has to be Nader again I guess.

Critique of Focus On The Family

"Turning our arse towards hos"

A reissue from the now defunct www.drjamesdobsonsucks.com

The Focus on the Family broadcasts of June 8th and 9th of 2006 entitled "Navigating Today's Youth Culture" showed a staggering return to form in the FoF lying department. And the old trout himself wasn't even present. Yes, amazingly Doctor James Dobson can bend truth AT A DISTANCE.

The two programs were really about three separate topics, but as I will point out later, the goons at FoF tried their darndest to conflate them.

Why?

Because as Odd Todd would say, "They are a bunch of scum liars."

The first issue up for a lambasting was myspace.com

Distorting Truth one issue at a time.

After their usual prurient "today's broadcast may not be suitable for younger listeners" nonsense, Doctor Bill Maier briefly touched on what the program was to be about - a terrible affliction sweeping America's youth called "The Choking Game" and myspace.com . He also introduced the studio guests, Bob Waliszewski of "Plugged In" magazine, Pastor Tim Wilson and his wife Carol "who is an elementary school teacher and also a volleyball coach" along "award winning author of over 50 books", Melody Carlson.

So as they say in The Sound Of Music, "let's start at the very beginning".

Why are these broadcasts not suitable for younger listeners? The folks at FoF are so holier-than-thou, so freaking pious that they NEVER SAY ANYTHING THAT MIGHT REMOTELY AFFECT A "YOUNGER LISTENER". And by the way, when did you last see kid scarred by an adjective? I've seen kids not being spared the rod - they had scars.

Why are all authors described as "award winning"? What awards? Something I've heard of? I'm thinking the use of the epithet "award winning" and "bestselling" is like Dr D James Kennedy listing all his degrees at the end of his comedy hour, to boost someone's shaky intellectual position. Ooooh I am an "award winning" author, my opinion trumps yours. Well, sorry honey, it just don't.

And then it was on to trashing myspace.com

So Doctor Maier lobs Mr. Waliszewski an easy question "So what is myspace.com?" And he says.......

"It is the good and the bad and the ugly, it's not, unlike the choking game, which is absolutely horrendous, in all cases, er, myspace has its good moments. So our discussion about myspace has to have all these different components"

Do you hear the subtle linkage? If you don't hear that second comma, you hear both things are the same and you don't even notice the latter part of the sentence when he's backtracking. Subtle distortion is still distortion.

"It is the good and the bad and the ugly, it's not unlike the choking game, which is absolutely horrendous...."

I had to listen to the damn CD ( $9.00 from FoF ) multiple times to hear these things are not the same.

Distortion # 2

Later Mr. Waliszewski goes on to discuss myspace profiles and he says "It ( myspace ) can be very pornographic. The pictures, that are not meant to be pornographic, but they often are"

Well, I have a myspace profile and my friends are Jenna Jameson, Stormy Daniels, Devon and Janine and I have seen no evidence of pornography from these ladies - who you would think would know a thing or to about that subject.

So again, do you see the subtle distortion? Things are not porn, but they are. They are because Mr. Waliszewski tells us they are?

And of course, he won't tell us what this "pornography" is. He's a "yoof" expert so we roll over for HIS opinion?

I really don't think so.

Of course, he would consider the following to be pornographic.



Which of course it so clearly is not.

Distortion # 3

Later still lying like the weasel he is, Mr. Waliszewski ( or perhaps Dr Maier ) said he was able with just three mouse clicks to "discover some of the most pornographic discussions that I cannot go into on this particular program. But suffice it to say, and you know what I am talking about, it was absolutely horrendous."

Guess what? I don't know what you are talking about. Sufficing ain't cutting it today.

Notice the subtle use of language again? He ( as expert ) opines without ANY examples and we are all supposed to nod sagely and say "Yep, you're sooooo right, it's all over myspace - porn and disgusting STUFF". Stuff of course, we have never seen nor evaluated.

He then legitimately talked about the dangers of online predators. That is always a valid point to bring up. But he then made the statement "myspace is a favorite site of predators". With of course, no statistics, evidence or even anecdotal evidence to back THAT up beyond one case where the crime was still in the "alleged" phase. But "a favorite site of predators"? That might be true. I don't know. But when Mr. Waliszewski says something is true, I immediately doubt its veracity.

Distortion # 4

And then maybe his most egregious distortion was when he tried to link pornography to online predators because some idiot whom he described as someone who "writes a professional digest for the porn industry" had written "one of the first things I did was create a myspace profile and started talking to 'the kids' - just to open up that channel". And that "he began flirting with a girl". Ooooooh.

The unheard link there is between "kids" and "children". And so, if it is "children", it is online predation.

Clearly the guy whom he quoted should not have said "kids". All that does is provide ammunition for people like FoF. But equally clearly he was talking about COLLEGE KIDS. After all, wasn't it at Harvard not that long ago that they showed Digital Playground's new movie "Pirates" on like, the dorm cable system?

"Kids" in college watch pornography. Sorry to burst your 1950's bubble Mr. Waliszewski. And tattoos and piercings have been "in" for at least 10 years. So there is no hidden agenda, no secret corruption of youth. no armies of pornographers on myspace recruiting lil chilluns.

THAT is all in Mr. Waliszewski's mind and I suspect, The Old Trout's.



And now finally, Day # 2 !!

Actually, there isn't much to tell. But let's talk about the 800 lb gorilla in the room that was never alluded to.

The 800 lb Gorilla

In the discussion of the "Choking Game", no one mentioned, hinted at or said the words AUTOEROTIC ASPHYXIATION.

Well, shave my head and call me normal, BUT it seems to me that what they were yakking about probably has something to do with AA. You know why they never said the words? Because then they would have to acknowledge that their fetishistic vision of young people as unblemished virgins is wrong. Oh heck, this activity is SEXUAL? No. That can't be, because our daughter/son doesn't do that! Well guess what? If the "Choking Game" is as big a problem as FoF say it is ( and I wonder about that ), then to say that AA is not involved is being disingenuous at the very least. And for an organization dedicated to providing "information" ( and I use that term loosely ) to America's families, they are singularly falling down at their self imposed job.
Of course, they weren't being disingenuous. They said what they said because ( repeat after me now )....

"They are all a bunch of scum liars."

And then there was Melody Carlson.

Almost the half of day 2 of this FoF special was devoted to trashing so called "Chick Lit" - after we had wallowed in the very tragic death of Pastor Wilson's' daughter to the "Choking Game". Dr Maier's insightful contribution to the debate?

Yup and I kid not, "Satan is after our children"

I just want to make four brief points about the whole Chick Lit discussion.

a) Dr Maier was again able to tell us the material being discussed was pornographic, but again without giving us any examples.

b) Ms Carlson was SHOCKED that in a capitalist society books are marketed at young girls! Ooooh they are "targeting our daughters". Notice that the language subtly conflates a legitimate activity to sexual predation? The books like "The Gossip Girls" glorify a lifestyle akin to Paris Hilton's and Nichole Ritchie's? Then may I suggest the "South Park" episode about Ms Hilton as the fastest way to debunk the non-argument that Ms Hilton is any kind of role model?

c) The books they talked about apparently glorify sex, drug abuse and other ( to FoF ) bad stuff. We got no examples. No passages from any book was read so we could make up our own minds. Guess what? My mind is not made up by listening to idiots like Dr Maier and Ms Carlson. Now I have to check out the "Gossip Girls" and "The A-list" for myself. I think as a grown man, I'll pass on "The Pretty Committee". And speaking of reading, has anyone read a ROMANCE NOVEL recently? Ohmigod. Clearly all that this whole "Chick Lit" phenomenon really is is a primer for romance novels. Get 'em young and keep 'em forever. Just like Budweiser. It's the American way.

d) But the best was when Doctor Maier asked Ms Carlson to recommend books that are suitable for young girls and all she could come up with WAS HER OWN BOOKS. That was freaking priceless. When really pressed she reluctantly had to recommend the works of Robin Jones Gunn - but boy was that an afterthought. Dr Maier had to step in and suggest an alternative. And his suggestion was written by FoF contributor - John Fabry. Talk about nepotism. If you look up these books by Mr. Fabry, you will see they are co-authored with one of the biggest names in "Christian" Fiction i.e. fiction that exploits Christ for a buck, Jerry "Left Behind" Jenkins. So you know they are going to be a huge steaming pile of doo.

You know what? We need some Jesse to cheer us up after trawling through the slime of FoF half truths.

Focus On The Family pixellates out these pentagrams on Jesse Jane's bikini, so I feel sort of obliged to show them too you in all their strained glory.